February. With the chocolate kisses and red roses, Cupid and Hallmark cards, lovey-dovey, sweet feeling in the air, some of the student population might be convinced that the entire point of February is to make the lives of single people miserable.

And they"d be right. But don"t despair, because there is hope out there Valentine"s Day doesn"t have to be the day to stay in bed and wash out all the let downs with ice cream. Ben and Jerry aren"t the only solutions to survive this meaninglessly red holiday.

Besides low-fat fudge, the tricks to surviving Feb. 14 in one piece are mostly mental.

Think about it. Who really wants a so-called "significant" other? The time, the commitment, the arguing, the ambiguity.

First of all, anybody who is an involved student at the University shouldn"t have the time for a boyfriend or girlfriend. After classes, homework, extracurriculars ... why use up all the spare time on one person? It"s such a waste, especially for a person who will probably dump you, or mess around on you, or try to. Spend any spare time on Valentine"s Day with friends. Many friends. Single friends.

Ok. The commitment. Who needs it? Single people can have fun wherever, whenever and with whoever they want. Taken people are stuck with one person, day in, day out. If the other half isn"t around, then the person is out of luck.

And how many healthy relationships are there? Not many. Part of having a relationship is the drama involved, the fights, the make-ups. It"s a rollercoaster. And you"re not at a theme park.

The ambiguity. This is for all the truly single people out there. The ones who will really be at home with their icecream or out with friends. The ones who don"t have a date. Why no date? Too much work involved. There"s the asking, the nervousness, the chickening out, the building up confidence and all of that is before the actual date. Meanwhile, there are more important things going on in life than whether or not the guy from psych class has a girlfriend or not, and if not, what he would think about hanging out on Valentine"s Day.

Of course, shove all that aside, and everybody who is single still wants the candy, the flowers and the love. The way to get through it? Exchange presents with a single friend, watch a sappy movie, discuss why the real world isn"t like the movies and trash the opposite sex.

The movie. Almost the most important decision of the night. Should it be funny, sappy, corny, scary? Best advice? Go for funny. There is no possible way for a person to feel sorry for themselves if while watching Adam Sandler beat up Bob Barker, or seeing Cameron Diaz with sperm in her hair. Corny movies, first of all, are corny. Who really wants to be watching a couple of picture-perfect people get lucky enough to find each other and fall in love? That never happens. Watching a romantic movie is like reading a fashion magazine. It will only make a person depressed. Scary movies are just as bad the most important thing during a scary movie is the guy sitting next to you. If there"s no guy, stay away from them.

Don"t feel like staying around the house? It"s reasonable to want to go out for Valentine"s Day. The most important tip here is not to make it seem like a date. Don"t go out to dinner with friends it"s too "I wish I had someone but since I don"t, I"ll make do with this." Instead, go out of the way to get creative and forget about all the things Hallmark says. Like playing video games? Have a tournament. Want to party? Throw one.

So go out. Have more fun than previously thought possible. If it"s just to McDonald"s, flirt with the order taker. Make a bet with a friend to see how many numbers each of you can score. Sure, it"s wrong, immoral and the poor people who gave up their phone numbers are going to be waiting for the call come Thursday. That"s not the point. The point is Wednesday, and anyone is flattered when someone asks for their phone number. So nobody is really hurt.

There are people out there who really want a date on Valentine"s Day, and if they haven"t been convinced by now that it"s not worth it, there"s only one piece of advice left. Go out and get one.

Shyness, when Valentine"s Day comes around, is not an issue. There are many ways to anonymously ask a person out on a date. The best example is the Dropped Note system. This is when you"re studying and Dream Boy is studying a couple tables away. What to do? Write a quick note, first name only, number and tell Dream Boy to call sometime. It sounds like it"s not going to work, but play the odds. There"s a 50 percent chance the guy will call, and a 50 percent chance the guy won"t. If he doesn"t, no harm done, and try again. This is a boy who has never been seen before, and most likely won"t be seen again. It"s daring. It"s fun. It"s harmless.

The best survival advice is to have a good time and forget about Hallmark. Exchange a flower with a friend.